An Example of the Industrial Design Process in the Consumer Product Space

Designing and modeling a wireless phone charger using existing hardware

This week industrial designer Eric Strebel not only shows us a new modelmaking process, but also gets into actual design, showing you how he tackles a real-world project from the get-go.

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"This week's video is about following a Design Brief and how I go about the process of breaking down a concept to create a consumer product," Strebel writes. "In this case a wireless phone charger. I sketch and ideate my concepts on paper first, then quickly create a proof of concept model to test the mechanics, followed by crafting a working mock up out of 20LB urethane foam.

"I show the model building process of the prototype and how it all comes together to make a working sample that you can actually use and interact with to test the functionality of the product."

6 Comments

Nice video. I love how you used the glove as the grip foot. I have a mock-up sitting on my desk that uses laser-cut foamcore and acrylic together, because it was faster and easier to build than waiting for a 3D-print. We ended up using the foamcore version a lot to help make some early decisions because it had just the right amount of detail we needed early on. The 3D-print came later, when we needed more detail.

I agree. However many students/designers don't have a 3D printer or even the CAD skills for creating the model. This is an alternative solution to a 3D printed model, I wanted to show this option, as foam is a cheap easy way to create mockups and models with.

Although in many cases I would agree with you, there are still a ton of opportunities for model making outside of just 3d printing something. I've had plenty of instances where it was much quicker, and cheaper to model out of foam or wood and I was able to learn and iterate faster. I think assuming 3d printing is the right answer every time is a bit limiting.

Even though I 3D print hundreds of parts each month, I still love to see this method as it brings a bit of old-school craftsmanship back to the practise - which I find quite nostalgic... and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling :D